The Optimistic Realist

A few of you wondered what was going on with the houses.
We are going to try to sell the big house. The market is miserable right now. There are a few homes with the same square footage and acreage right down the street from ours that are listed about 200K less than we owe on ours. The only things we have going for us is those are right next to the freeway and they are in a less favorable town. (I know that is a matter of opinion, but for some reason it affects the prices here just because they are in a different county) But for a smart person who didn't have to worry about the school district, you'd think they'd get the cheaper home. There are so many short sales going on that no one wants to pay a real price for a home. Who can blame them. I certainly wouldn't do it. So we are praying for a miracle and expecting the worst.
We had some wonderful help getting moved and are mostly all out of the big house. We started sleeping at our old house last Thursday night. I think my body had to acclimate to the warmth because I sweated like crazy the first two nights with the thermostat set at 70F. And having automatic hot water is like a miracle! I am astonished every time I turn the faucet to hot and it actually gets HOT! We really take our blessings for granted.
It could be easy to wish we had never bought the big house, or to say we could have avoided a lot of problems and hard-times if we hadn't. But I am so grateful for the wonderful friends I made in our big house and the incredible lessons I learned about service and love. If those were the reasons we needed to go through some of the uncomfortable times we went through, then I gladly accept. What more important lesson can we learn then to be more christ-like and charitable? So even if we end up having to give the house back to the bank and ruining our excellent credit scores (780) I feel at peace that we are doing our best and trying to live within our means. I know things will work out. I don't want people to feel sorry for us and I'm not blaming anyone else. Obviously we can't see the future, so we couldn't foresee this happening with the economy, but with all things there are inherent risk. We took a chance. I am grateful my husband is still healthy and able to provide for us. I know there are people in much worse situations than we are in and I am very thankful for our many blessings.
In the house we are back in I had put vinyl letters up in the dining room a few years ago that say " Count Your Blessings" and I always felt it was true enough to remind yourself of it daily. But I feel it resonates even more true to me now that I have been in this precarious situation.
We had not planned on moving back, but now find it a blessing that we have a home to move back to. We hope this will put us in a much more secure position.
I hope all of you are healthy, happy and prepared for whatever lies ahead. For if you are prepared you shall not fear. :)